Building Tech Talent With Apprenticeships

Rachel Magliocco, Future Skills & Apprenticeship Lead at Provident Financial Group (PFG), describes the wide-ranging benefits of apprenticeships within her business and the wider tech world and talks about the business's commitment to working closely with young people and schools in the community to help build skills for life...

What are the key benefits derived from a strong apprenticeship scheme?

A strong apprenticeship scheme can see new talent find opportunities within your organisation, and it’s a great way to attract ‘sticky people’ - those that join in early careers and stay for years. That’s also true for experienced colleagues. Being able to offer a senior leader an MBA in senior leadership along with their new job can help attract talent at senior levels too.

Apprenticeships allow learners to understand their profession in a broader sense by seeing how their skills, knowledge and behaviours learned on the course are, or could be, implemented with the business. This means they can learn the way we do things here on the job and bring new ideas and industry best practices back through their learning.

Having an established scheme means existing colleagues are familiar with what apprenticeships offer, and can see what’s available to them to support their development in their current job and for their aspirational roles.

For me, the key benefits for a business are the attraction and retention of talent, by developing colleagues with broader industry knowledge as well as supporting career paths.

Why are apprenticeships important to PFG?

It’s important that colleagues can have a career at PFG; having options for their development and roles to move into helps make this happen. Apprenticeships help to support career development here by improving our talent mobility.

Onboarding apprentices into entry-level roles can also complement and enhance our internal learning offerings. We want apprenticeships to help enhance the work we do with our communities as we have strong programmes educating children in our local areas, helping them understand the world of work. Being able to provide entry-level opportunities gives local young people a first step on the ladder, with real work experience, by gaining a national qualification and earning while they are learning

What types of skills and expertise are you promoting with your apprenticeship scheme?

Our apprenticeship scheme supports our entire business. We offer over 150 different apprenticeship courses through our existing providers, from customer service to finance, all the way to HR, marketing and tech courses. All our existing colleagues can access apprenticeships to support their profession.

What are the benefits of apprenticeships in the tech industry - for employers and employees?

It’s a great way for employees to be able to move into a fast-paced and in-demand career. Employers now can recruit anyone with the right attitude and aptitude into their first tech role with the confidence they can receive the industry and technical knowledge they need through an apprenticeship. Training someone new in tech can feel daunting to managers who are already busy with fast-paced transformation, but the demand for employees is constant. Knowing that apprenticeship providers can support allows managers to focus on the on-the-job learning specific to their practices and process. Employees are able to work with confidence knowing they will be learning and applying industry standards in their new role, giving them the skills to deliver in their new role and add value with fresh ideas.

Do you think this could be one of the answers to the talent crisis?

Absolutely. Organisations are fishing for talent in a competitive pond and it’s easy to fall into short-term thinking, hiring only seasoned professionals as colleagues or contractors. While this might be the only solution to some problems, it doesn’t take into account what might happen when that individual moves on, or your business needs change. Building our tech structures to include junior or entry-level roles enables our business to hire early and help shape someone’s career in alignment with their ambitions, as well as the business's technology strategy. It encourages colleagues to stay with the organisation, building their understanding of the business itself as well as advancing professionally with on-the-job learning and a qualification.

Do attitudes still need to change?

They do. We need to shift the balance in 'build vs buy' when it comes to our tech talent. The more organisations can do to 'build' tech professionals over 'buy', the more they can be part of the solution. It starts with our understanding and attitudes toward building talent, then working this mindset into our organisation's structure, so we have junior roles available everywhere possible, introducing new talent, and nurturing these people as our future leaders.

What can be done to encourage more employers to offer apprenticeships?

There is a lot to be said about raising awareness and busting myths about apprenticeships and gaining support from business leaders to drive the expectation of recruitment and development through apprenticeships. I think providers and The Institute of Apprenticeships have a responsibility to understand and sell the impact of their apprenticeships to raise awareness in workplaces. It’s crucial that apprenticeship standards continue to be in touch with the modern workplace.

What can be done to entice more people to consider apprenticeships?

For me, it’s information and awareness. Improving the understanding of apprenticeships at all ages will support more people in considering them, whilst focusing not just on entry-level early careers, but talking about them to broader audiences, including career switchers and returning workers. People leaving school or college can often feel like university is the only choice. If apprenticeships were advertised at the level of UCAS, it would open people’s eyes to faster careers and learning with good salaries - rather than student debts.

Anything else you'd like to add?

We’re using National Apprenticeship week to raise awareness and bust myths about apprenticeships. We want to share stories of colleagues who have - and are - supporting their development through apprenticeships. We’re also talking to our colleagues about the great work we do in our communities working with local schools and charities. For us, the theme 'skills for life' starts with those young people, whom we can help to support with mentoring and work experience programs, forming the first step in encouraging new apprentices.

Head of Talent, Stuart McKinlay at Provident Financial Group (PFG) comments: “We’re committed to supporting all our colleagues to develop their careers, and apprenticeships are a great way for us to do this.

It provides colleagues, at all levels, with opportunities to learn while they earn, putting into practice their newfound knowledge and skills, exploring their subject across the market to take home a professional qualification, and help drive our business forward.”